High performance piezoelectric microelectromechanical system (MEMS) devices are limited by the lower piezoelectric coefficients of thin films compared to their bulk counterparts. Today, piezoelectric MEMS architectures are largely activated with the d31 piezoelectric coefficient (field applied in the “3” direction, displacement in the “1” direction). The d33 piezoelectric coefficient (field applied in the “3” direction, displacement in the “3” direction) is also a component of the displacement. Herein is described a method to augment this displacement using a shear component of displacement.